Enel Starts Operating Damascena Wind Farm In Brazil
Damascena is the second facility to enter into service at the 118 MW Serra Azul wind power cluster located in Bahia state Enel is investing approximately 220 million US dollars in the construction of Serra Azul, partly financed by loans from International Finance Corporation, Itaú Unibanco AS and BNDES.
Enel, through its subsidiary Enel Green Power Brasil Participações Ltda. (“EGPB”), has started the commercial operation of the Damascena wind farm, which is located in Brazil’s north-eastern state of Bahia and is the second of four plants at the 118 MW Serra Azul wind power cluster to be put online.
Damascena has an installed capacity of 30 MW and will be able to generate more than 140 GWh per year, enough to meet the annual consumption needs of around 70,000 households, while avoiding the emission of about 80,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.
As well as Damascena, Serra Azul is composed of Maniçoba (30 MW), Esperança (28 MW) and Dois Riachos (30 MW), the latter of which is already operating. Both Dois Riachos and Damascena are delivering energy through Dois Riachos’ connection to the grid. When the entire cluster enters into service, it will be able to generate more than 500 GWh per year, which corresponds to the consumption of around 240,000 Brazilian households, and will avoid the emission of around 300,000 tonnes of CO2.
Enel is investing approximately 220 million US dollars in the construction of Serra Azul in line with the Group’s strategic plan. This investment is partly financed by loans from the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group), Itaú Unibanco AS and Brazilian Development Bank BNDES. All loans are related to the construction of wind farms in north-eastern Brazil. The energy generated by the cluster will be sold mainly through energy supply contracts on the country’s regulated market.
With the entry into service of Damascena, EGPB now operates 264 MW of wind power capacity in Bahia, where the company is currently building the 90 MW Cristalândia and 180 MW Delfina wind projects. In the same state, the company is also building the 254 MW Ituverava PV solar facility, the largest solar plant Enel currently has under construction, and the 158 MW Lapa solar park. EGPB has also been awarded a further 172 MW of wind capacity and 103 MW of PV capacity in Bahia through public tenders.
The Enel Group’s Brazilian renewable energy subsidiary currently has a total installed capacity of 546 MW, of which 401 MW comes from wind, 12 MW from PV solar and 133 MW from hydro. Moreover, the company has 442 MW of wind, 102 MW of hydro and 807 MW of solar projects currently in execution.
